"Francis Dumps U.S. Cardinal Who Is Outspoken Critic Of Abortion, Gay Marriage"

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Pope Francis announced changes in the influential Vatican office that evaluates and nominates candidates for bishop around the world.

....

Some members of the congregation were very conspicuously not retained. Cardinal Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis, will no longer serve in the office.

Burke is considered an outspoken critic of abortion and same-sex marriage and a favorite of conservative Catholics. He has also been publicly critical of Francis's changes in the direction of the church. Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura.

Burke drew attention in the U.S. in 2004 when he said he would deny Communion to Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a Roman Catholic who supports abortion rights.

They really think this Pope is a social liberal who is going to support abortion and homosexual "marriage". Of course, if they read their own NY Times about the same topic, they'd get a more complete picture:

...Some recent appointments have disheartened liberals within the church, particularly the pope’s choice in October to approve the Rev. Leonard Blair as the archbishop of Hartford. He was central in a doctrinal investigation that reprimanded a group of American nuns who were deemed to have drifted from church teaching.

Many church observers saw the hand of Cardinal Burke in that selection, as they did in the appointment of Salvatore J. Cordileone, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage, as archbishop of San Francisco.

In an interview in Washington last week, Cardinal Wuerl suggested that the pope was altering the way the bishops’ congregation functioned. For example, Francis is already surveying a broader range of bishops than those in the congregation, the cardinal said.

“When it comes to future bishops, he is asking a number of sources,” he said.

Asked whether all of the pope’s changes mattered if Cardinal Burke still had such influence in appointing bishops, Cardinal Wuerl smiled.

“Don’t we have to give this pope time?” he said.

In other words, it's public relations.

One DUmmie gets it right:

Bluenorthwest (28,470 posts)

12. "Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura."

How is a man heading the high court a man 'dumped'? Answer, he's not dumped but it feels good to some to claim that he is. Similar to Cardinal Law, who was not 'dumped' after his crimes but rather moved to live at the Vatican in luxury and splendor as reward for what he did.
Dolan, bigoted hate speech purveyor, sexist homophobe and owner of more NYC real estate than any other person, still controls all of that wealth and still holds his office, which he holds at Francis' pleasure. He is still there because Francis lets him be there.
Archbishops in Illinois recently held 'exorcism' of marriage equality, carried on in Medieval and hate soaked rants of pure ignorance and they retain their offices.
Yawn. Same old thing. Tired of hearing that a man given an important high office in the Vatican was 'dumped' so that certain quarters can excuse the hate mongering against gay people. Hard to imagine a less honest or more deceitful tactic.
Burke retains his position as the head of the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura.
The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church apart from the Pope himself, also it oversees the administration of justice in the Church. He who heads this court is second to the Pope in authority and administration of what they call 'justice'. Dumped indeed. We should all be so 'dumped'.

I don't agree with Bluenorthwest's moonbattery, but the poster has read the church right. Pope Francis is better at the "optics" than Ratzinger was.

I'm not a Catholic, but I like Francis. I would never expect a pope to be pro-choice or pro-gay, it goes against the church's traditional teachings and no church is probably more traditional than the Catholic church.

I like Francis' frankness about serving the poor and his backround as a pretty humble archbishop, forgoing the fancy quarters he could have lived in for an apartment and riding public transportation. A lot of liberals have misinterpreted some of his statements about the church's response to the needs of humanity over political issues as an embrace of liberalism itself, but they are wrong.

A lot of liberals have misinterpreted some of his statements about the church's response to the needs of humanity over political issues as an embrace of liberalism itself, but they are wrong.

From everything I've heard about it, that is very much the case, and this was not a symbolic firing to signal a big change of direction. The Progs are reading a whole lot more into it than is really there.

I also find the Pope's humility and generosity appealing. I think some of his statements on economic matters have had too much read into them by both those who want to attack Capitalism and those who want to defend it, but ultimately he's a Pope and their selection has nothing to do with their wisdom on Economics or Political Science. The remarks therefore don't really mean anything except in an aspirational sense.